If you are looking for an alternative to ice cream that is not only delicious and beautiful you may want to consider trying the Italian dessert,
sorbet. It is both dairy and egg free so that if you have an allergy or intolerance to either of those foods, you can still enjoy it. Making it is similar to ice cream as you can make it with any ingredients in your freezer or ones that are in season where you live, and you can come up with your own creative flavors.
If you are considering making your own sorbet there are several things that you need. These include 4 cups of any type of fresh fruit you desire; some popular flavors include strawberries, raspberries, bananas, mangoes, and blueberries. You also need 1 cup of water, 1 cup of sugar, some salt, and about 1/4 cup of lime juice. These are all items that are found in most people's homes.
When you are creating your own frozen Italian dessert at home, you will need to fist boil the water, sugar, and salt together until simple syrup is formed, usually about 5 minutes. Once this syrup is ready, it will need to be chilled for several hours. While it is chilling, you need to prepare your fresh fruit choices, and then spray with lemon juice to keep the fruit from browning while you are waiting for the syrup to chill enough. To prepare the fruit properly, you need to process it in a food processor, blender, or food masher to the desired consistency and run it through a sieve to make sure that all the pulp is removed. (
Once the syrup is chilled enough and the fruit is ready, you will need to mix the two together according to your taste preferences. If it is too weak you can add lemon juice to give it a stronger flavor. Just remember that once it freezes, the flavors do get a little stronger.
Now it is time to pour the pureed fruit into a container with a lid to put it in the freezer to start the hardening process. If you have one, you can use an ice cream machine. It will still need to chill, however. You can also create your sorbet in any flavor and consistency you desire if you do choose to use a machine.
Some things that you need to consider when you are making your own sorbet is the only thing that limits the flavor of your dessert is your lack of imagination, for example, you can add flavors like ginger to mangoes or almond extract to peaches. You could even leave the peel on your fruit if you want. If you want a little bite or more tart flavor to your dessert, you can add alcohol, just not too much as it will not freeze.
